Trouble The Water
One of the most inspirational stories ever committed to celluloid, Academy Award Nominated documentaryTrouble the Water is a moving, heroic, powerhouse of a film that has taken the world by storm on the back of its all conquering success at last years film festivals.
Following the story of aspiring rap artist and self proclaimed hustler Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott as they try to survive the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina and piece their life back together in the aftermath of the devastation. Trouble the Water will be released on DVD on 27 April 2009 courtesy of ICA Films.
Opening the day before Katrina makes landfall, far from the New Orleans that tourists know, Trouble the Water sees Kim turning her video camera on herself and her neighbours in 9th Ward, one of the most deprived districts in the city. ‘It’s going to be a day to remember.’ She says excitedly as the storm is brewing. She wasn’t wrong.
As the storm beings to rage and floodwaters fill their world, the couple continue to film, documenting their harrowing voyage to safety and the dramatic rescues of friends and neighbours.
Intertwining Kim and Scott’s insider view of Katrina, directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (producers of Fahrenheit 9/11) follow their story though the storm and its aftermath, dealing with FEMA officials, finding a new home, coping with the loss of loved ones and moving into a new life.
Trouble the Water was one of the few films to ever receive a spontaneous standing ovation in the middle of the feature at Sundance 2008, when Kim finds the only existing copy of her recorded music to survive the storm, and launches into a blistering rap, revealing her devastating skills as a musician, which compacts her life story into explosive poetry that paints a brutally truthful picture of poverty.
This amazing film won the Grand Jury prize at last year’s Sundance and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2009 Academy Awards, and it continues to change the lives of Kim and Scott today, Kim has signed a recording contract, and the couple celebrated the birth of their first child the day after the premiere; proof that hope and new life can rise from the ashes of even the most devastating tragedy.